Total War in the Pacific

Southeast Asia

Events

Key People

Winston Churchill -
British prime minister; insisted on unconditional
surrender for Germany and delayed invasion of western Europe

Franklin D. Roosevelt -
32nd
U.S. president; agreed to continued commitment of United States
to defeat Germany in Europe

Joseph Stalin -
Soviet
premier; met with Churchill and Roosevelt at Tehran; pushed for
early invasion of western Europe to take German pressure off the
USSR

The Casablanca Conference

On January 12–23, 1943,
U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime
minister Winston Churchill met at Casablanca in French
North Africa (present-day Morocco) and decided that they would accept
nothing but an unconditional surrender from Germany in
order to end the war. They also made a number of important strategic
decisions. They discussed troop distribution in the Pacific, outlined
major lines of attack in the far east, and agreed upon
the invasion of Sicily. Moreover, they decided to delay plans for
an Allied invasion of Europe via the English Channel until
the summer of 1944, due to ongoing difficulties
with the preparations. Finally, in order to reduce pressure on the
Soviet Union, they agreed to intensify bombing operations against
Germany. Following the conference, the two leaders sent a telegram
to Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, informing him of their
decisions and reaffirming their commitment to work together with
the USSR in defeating Germany.

The Tehran Conference

From November 28 to December 1, 1943,
Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all met together for the first
time, at a conference in Tehran, Iran. The three leaders
discussed detailed plans for the Allied invasion of Europe, which
Churchill and Roosevelt had decided to postpone at the Casablanca
Conference earlier that year. The invasion would be code-named Operation
Overlord. Stalin was frustrated by the delay, but Churchill
and Roosevelt insisted that the extra time was needed to sufficiently
degrade Germany’s military strength. At the end of the meeting,
Stalin committed the USSR to enter the war against Japan once Germany
was defeated.